Martyr Victor of Marseilles

IMPORTANT NOTE: dozens of saints bear the name "Victor"; for this bare stub (with no other identifying details), Victor of Marseilles was chosen — not because he is a "typical" candidate, but because he is the only namesake with an independent, individually attested cultus (unlike Victor of Nicomedia, who is never commemorated apart from the group of Zoticus/Zeno/Akindynos/Severian), and he was officially added to the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church by decision of the Holy Synod on March 9, 2017.

Saint Martyr Victor was a Roman military officer of senatorial rank in Massilia (modern Marseille) during the persecution of Emperor Maximian. He openly urged local Christians to confess their faith fearlessly and denounced idol-worship before the officers of his legion, for which he was dragged through the city streets and imprisoned.

While in prison he converted three soldiers — Longinus, Alexander, and Felician — who were immediately martyred for it. Victor himself was tortured (his hand crushed, dragged again through the streets) and finally executed — crushed under a millstone.

A later (5th-century) local tradition adds that he had been a ship's pilot before his military service, giving rise to his veneration in France as patron of sailors and fishermen.

His feast is kept on July 21/August 3.